Republicans don't really care about inequality

The Republican Party appears to accept that poverty and the
inequities of wealth and political power that have prevailed over
the last 15 years are issues it can no longer ignore. Not without
paying a price. Mitt Romney's cool indifference to the everyday
struggles of working Americans went a long way toward sinking his
2012 campaign.

But expressing concern about inequality is one thing. Doing
something about it is another. The GOP so far appears more
worried about its reputation as being the
party of the very, very rich, not so much the empirical
reality of its being the party of the very, very
rich.

At a recent Republican gathering, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas gave
voice to the party's incongruity of perception and reality. "I
think Republicans are and should be the party of the 47 percent,"
he said. Later at that same event, the "Koch Brothers
Trust"—the network of billionaire brothers Charles and
David Koch—announced plans to spend nearly $1 billion in the next
race for the White House, virtually all of it going to the
Republican Party's nominee.

If the GOP were truly troubled by historic rates of income and
wealth inequality, it would rubber-stamp President Barack Obama's
plan to raise taxes on the wealthy and use the proceeds to fund
infrastructure projects—roads, bridges, waterways, sewer systems.
Public investments like these have historically garnered broad
support, because they are neutral vehicles for achieving the
goals of statecraft. Not only would such expenditures create
hundreds of thousands of seasonal jobs, as well as many thousands
of permanent jobs, and stimulate economic activity on a national
scale. And they'd pay for themselves over time.

The president's $4 trillion fiscal budget would tap into offshore
accounts and Wall Street transactions that only the very, very
rich possess and thus care about. In addition to public works,
which Obama has been calling for since his took office, increased
revenues would be used for free community college and universal
child care.

This, or something like it, is what serious people talk about if
they are serious about combating inequality. Progressive
redistribution, however bitter-tasting the phrase may be, must be
on the table. But all we are likely to hear, especially from
Republicans aiming high, are platitudes steeped in conservative
morality, homilies to the power of private enterprise freed from
the bonds of bureaucratic red tape, or the benefits of cutting
taxes. Really. Anything. Anything at all to
avoid tax hikes even on the treasonous few who hide their money
offshore.

All one needs to do to see the difference between what
Republicans are saying and Republicans are doing is look at the
current session of Congress. The very first item on Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's to-do list was passing a bill
authorizing the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. That
project would indeed create thousands of seasonal jobs but only
about 40 permanent ones. It would have virtually no impact on the
U.S. economy. Moreover, the public would get nothing in return,
unless you count greater levels of global warming.

That's not to mention other items being pushed having nothing to
do with serving the greater good. A short list: House Republicans
have introduced legislation to restrict abortion (the
melodramatically titled "fetal-pain bill"), to dismantle part of
the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, and to starve to death the
president's modest executive action on illegal immigration.

Even if the Republicans really did believe, as Jeb Bush is trying
to convince us, that addressing inequality is the right thing to
do, don't bet on any action. Doing the right thing had rarely
been an incentive, because this is a party now committed to total
warfare against Obama and the Democratic agenda. The only way the
Republicans will take action on inequality is if they are forced
to, but even then, they'll likely do everything short of raising
taxes on the very, very rich.

That's why we should keep our eyes on minimum wage and paid sick
leave. House Speaker John Boehner has said he'd rather kill
himself than raise the minimum wage. Conservatives are poised to
attack Republicans entertaining mandated sick days. But in terms
of inequality, these are the easiest way to say you've done
something without raising taxes on the very, very rich.

So yes, inequality is emerging as a major issue in the 2016
presidential race, and Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz and others are going to
try hard to convince us that the Republican Party cares,
really cares, about the plight of the poor and an
ever-shrinking middle class. But remember the last time a major
candidate talked about such "compassionate conservatism." By the
end of his second term, the greatest beneficiaries of that
compassion were the very, very rich.